Mass Effect: Genesis
by E350
Summary: Sequel to Mass Effect: Endgame. It has been six months since the Battle for Earth, and the Alliance is mopping up the last Cerberus remnants in the Terminus Systems. A special forces team led by Kaidan and Garrus hits Cerberus' last base, only to find a revelation that will shake the entire galaxy - for Commander Shepard is not dead. Male!Shep/Tali. Strong language and violence.
1. Prologue

And here we go, the sequel to Endgame. If you haven't read that, I recommend you do so. :)

Let's get this show on the road! Skip down about half-way if you want the start of the narrative proper.

* * *

**Mass Effect: Genesis**

**Prologue**

_Maj. Jonathan Coats  
Houses of Parliament (Temporary GHQ)  
London, Great Britain_

_To: Fleet Admiral Stephen Hackett_

_Subj: Allied Losses, Battle of London/the Citadel_

...TF Hammer: 63% casualties, most dead or crippled for life.

...Sword Fleet: 73% of vessels destroyed or damaged beyond repair.

...Shield Fleet: 33% of vessels destroyed or damaged beyond repair.

...C-Sec: 97% casualties – recommend absorption of remaining troops into Allied units.

Search efforts continue from SSV _El Alamein_ and SSV _Poitiers_, alongside Allied frigates. Life pods still being recovered, but by this point it is likely that any remaining pods still in orbit have run out of oxygen. Recommend downgrade of MIAs to KIA status.

* * *

"_...reporting for Alliance News Network. Fleet Admiral Stephen Hackett has made a speech to remaining Allied leaders, announcing an end to Alliance rescue operations in orbit around Earth. This makes the Systems Alliance the last group to cease search and rescue operations in what has become known as the 'Graveyard of Heroes'. The admiral proclaimed that the time has come for the Citadel races to move forward, and to leave their dark past behind."_

"...the next few years will be hard, we do not doubt that, but we shall move on into a brighter future – not just for humanity, but for every race in this galaxy. That is our duty, our _dedication,_ to those who gave their lives for this new dawn..."

"_In related news, Admiral Hackett had entered talks with Primarch Victus to create a duel human-turian command in the continued campaign against Cerberus holdouts..."_

* * *

_Spectre Terminal History – Lieutenant-Colonel Kaidan Alenko_

Memorial to 323rd/329th Mechanized Battalions:The 103rd's two battalions of M35 Mako and M44 Hammerhead troops were wiped out to the last man during the charge on the Conduit. A memorial has been suggested to commemorate their sacrifice. [APPROVED]

Transfer and Promotion: Cpl. Graham Smith has been recommended for commissioned officer status within the proposed anti-Cerberus task force. [APPROVED]

Commendations: Commendations have been recommended for C-Sec officers Commander Bailey and his officers for their efforts in holding the C-Sec outpost on the Presidium. [APPROVED]

Killed in Action: Admiral Boris Mikhailovich has asked that Alliance personnel and heroes Commander R. Shepard and Flight Lieutenant Jeff Monroe be formally declared Killed in Action and the investigation into their loss halted. [DENIED]

* * *

OPERATION CHARON IS GO STOP. 63RD AND 79TH FLOTILLAS TO DEPLOY TO THE FATHAR SYSTEM STOP. ALL COMMS REMAIN SILENT FOR ELEMENT OF SURPRISE STOP.

* * *

The _Elbrus_ was preparing.

General Oleg Petrovsky paced back and forth across the bridge, occasionally stopping to glance at his tactical display. There was no sign of activity – but that couldn't last. Eventually, Alliance fleets would come for them – and with just four cruisers and a handful of frigates, there was no way they could hold.

"General."

Petrovsky was shaken out of his thoughts as another man entered the bridge. He was dressed in a standard Cerberus lab uniform. He was an older man, wrinkled and thinning, with dull hazel eyes, freckles, and a mole under his nose. A slightly gravelly Irish brogue underlined his words. Yet this unassuming appearance masked a man of startling intellect – Dr. Winston Patterson, the head of Project Alpha.

"Doctor," nodded Petrovsky, venomously.

"Is this really the time for a petty grudge, General?" asked Dr. Patterson, crossing his arms.

"I don't hold grudges against animals," sniffed Petrovsky.

Patterson smirked and rolled his eyes.

"And is the flotilla ready?" he asked.

"Ready to die for a dead organisation and a lost cause?"

Petrovsky glared at Dr. Patterson.

"We haven't had any contact with any other Cerberus cells since the Reapers were destroyed," he snarled, "Why should I throw away what's left of my forces so that you can run some damn tests?"

"You act as though your men can still think for themselves," sneered Dr. Patterson.

Petrovsky winced.

"I'm sorry, General, was that a sore spot?" sniffed Dr. Patterson, "If you disagreed with the morals of the trooper's improvements, then you should have left earlier."

"I still believed back then," whispered Petrovsky.

"And now it is too late," finished Dr. Patterson, "The Alliance would imprison you, the turians would shoot you, and if Aria got her hands on you..."

He made a cutting motion across his neck.

"Keep them off us, General," he snapped, "Whatever the cost."

He walked out of the bridge, leaving the General alone.

* * *

_2187 – Six months after the Battle of London._

_The final remnants of Cerberus are on the run. A combined Alliance-Turian fleet, under the command of Admiral Stephen Hackett, has pushed them all the way back to the Terminus Systems. With Chronos Station gone, their command has centralised under General Oleg Petrovsky on Omega._

_Now, ground forces under the command of Septimus Oraka and assisted by the forces of Aria T'Loak push through the cramped quarters of the space station, engaged in a heavily attritional battle against an entrenched and well-led enemy. With air and armour support impossible, casualties are mounting, but numbers are on the allied side. It seems that conflict is finally nearly over._

_A strike force has now been dispatched to Archimedes Station in the Fathar system, the last remaining Cerberus scientific facility. Alongside the last vestiges of the organization's perverted science, the station also houses Petrovsky and his staff – co-ordinating the battle on Omega from a distance. If Archimedes Station falls, Omega will follow..._

* * *

INSERT TITLE HERE._  
_


	2. Chapter 1: Strike Force

First of all, an apology. I shouldn't have left this dead for so long. I had incredible writers block and an illness to boot, but I was also consumed by terrible laziness, and that's my fault entirely. I'm sorry.

Review replies;

**mrgubbins92:** Then wait no more! :D Thanks for reading!

**Trapinchh:** Very glad you like it. :) People look at my profile? :P Thanks for the review!

**Mike Hall:** I've been thinking about stuff like that. While it's not addressed in this chapter, there's definitely some problems brewing in the background, and not just between the krogan and the turians... Thanks for reviewing!

**CyanB:** Well, after weeks of waiting, we can find out! :D Thanks very much!

**Dracconnis: **Thanks, I will. :)

* * *

**Chapter One: Strike Force**

_"This is SSV _Canberra, _we're about to drop out of FTL, all ships report."_

_"This is the _El Alamein, _first squadron is reporting."_

_"This is _Havincaw,_ second squadron is on approach."_

_"Copy. Your mission is to keep their fleet busy while _Canberra_ moves in to unload strike teams and bombard the station. Keep 'em off us – happy hunting."_

A fleet of nine ships, mostly Alliance and turian frigates led by a single Alliance cruiser, came out of FTL in visual distance of Archimedes Station. Quickly changing course, the frigates moved to engage the Cerberus vessels defending the station as the cruiser headed straight through to bombard the station proper.

Down in the cruiser's cargo hold, several shuttles were being prepped for launch.

Lieutenant-Colonel Kaidan Alenko sat in one of the shuttles, waiting for the rest of his squad to ready up and board. His M-55 Argus rifle was folded up on his back and he was looking over his Carnifex pistol.

It had been a rough few months. After the Battle of London, he had attempted to find his parents and discovered what he had feared – his father had been killed in action in a skirmish near Whistler, and his mother was in poor health. He'd done what he could, but she had died just one month after the end of the Reaper occupation.

Here, he'd felt he had a choice – wallow alone in his bitterness for the rest of his life, or push himself back into what he was good at and try to move on. So he had joined the Alliance's anti-Cerberus operations as a Special Forces operator – if nothing else, he could prevent the Cerberus remnants from causing more families to end up like his.

Besides, being back on the front brought him back among some old comrades. That certainly helped.

"Sir, got a message from Admiral Mikhailovich, says we've got an 'unconventional operator' inbound."

Kaidan got up and walked over to the cockpit, where Lieutenant Steve Cortez was prepping for take-off. Kaidan had requested Cortez personally – he was one of the best shuttle pilots in the fleet, so who else would he want at the controls?

"Unconventional operator?" quizzed Kaidan, "Another bounty hunter?"

"An old friend, actually," grinned Cortez.

At this point, said operator climbed into the shuttle.

"Liara?"

"Kaidan," nodded Liara.

Kaidan grinned, getting up and shaking hands with his asari friend.

"Somehow I knew I'd see you again," he chuckled, "What're you doing here? Don't you have agents to do this kind of thing?"

"I do," admitted Liara, "I have five agents in this battle-group alone. I've just found that I just can't sit around at a desk after all we've been through."

She gave a hollow laugh and sat down.

"It sounds insane, doesn't it?"

"It's not insane," replied Kaidan, putting a hand on her shoulder, "It's really not."

At that point, they were interrupted by a squad of marines climbing into the shuttle.

These marines looked very different from ordinary Alliance marines. They wore the same standard of armour, but it was red rather than blue, and had more webbing. One of the marines grinned when he saw Liara.

"Hey, nobody ever said we were workin' with asari on this!"

The soldier next to him slapped him in the back of the head.

"Macnaughton!" he snapped.

Macnaughton muttered to himself and sat down.

"Apologies," nodded the other marine, "We usually don't act like that."

He turned to Kaidan.

"Second Lieutenant Graham Smith, sir," he said, saluting, "Coldstreams. We'll be your unit for this op."

"I was briefed on you, yeah," nodded Kaidan, "London survivors, right?"

"Yes sir," nodded Smith.

"Good, you know how to handle yourselves," grinned Kaidan, "Get ready, we dust off in two minutes."

* * *

Garrus sat in his own shuttle, looking over his Javelin rifle. He'd acquired the thing in the Battle of Rannoch, and since then, it had served him very well. By now, it was starting to look very worn – but if you asked Garrus, that just meant it gave it character.

Across from him, Captain James Vega was looking over his Revenant. The bulky marine had been at Garrus' side since the campaign against the holdouts began, and had come to impress the older turian with his improvement. He had taken some shrapnel to the face on Noveria, leaving him with a scar running across from the top of his forehead to his left ear. It certainly added to his menace, both to the enemy and to the new meat.

New meat. That made him the old breed. The brash young turian in C-Sec had come a very long way, hadn't he?

The shuttle contained a mixed unit – a few Alliance marines, a few turians, and a few salarians of the Special Tasks Force. Major Kirrahe, their commander, was in another shuttle – they were due to land nearby, so they'd see him pretty soon. The newer troops stood out like a sore thumb – glistening armour and unblemished faces, looking like they were about to vomit. Hopefully, they'd last to see the end.

Hell, if command was right (through it rarely was), this battle would _be_ the end.

"_Commander Vakarian, we're thirty seconds out. Recommend you ready up."_

Garrus nodded at the pilot's words and put on his helmet.

"Alright, gentlemen, you heard the man," he called out, "The _Canberra_'s blasted a hole for us – helmets and magboots until we reach a pressurised area. Remember the rules of engagement – we don't shoot unarmed personnel and surrendering soldiers are not to be harmed."

"_End of the line, fellas, this shuttle terminates here. Happy hunting."_

The shuttle doors opened, and Garrus stepped out.

"Let's finish this war," he whispered to himself.

Before the _Canberra_ had blown it apart, this part of the station had been a mess hall for the personnel – while half of it had been destroyed, the other half was largely, almost eerily intact. Dinner trays and half-eaten food floated in the weightless environment around them – as did the bodies of the people using them.

"They wouldn't even have had time to run before the _Canberra_ destroyed this section," a salarian whispered, "Quite a...unpleasant way to go."

"Son of a bitch..." he heard a soldier whisper.

"Shut it," snapped a turian, "They're Cerberus. They deserve this shit."

_Do they?_ Garrus thought, watching the shredded upper half of a Cerberus operative float a few feet in front of him. Blonde hair, green eyes, couldn't have been any more then twenty-five. She had what might have been an attractive face, if half of it wasn't melted. She'd been cut down at the prime of her life.

The sooner this was over, the better.

"Garrus," called James, snapping him out of his thoughts, "We've still got oxygen at the labs. Kirrahe's gonna meet us there."

"Copy that," nodded Garrus, "Tell him we'll be waiting."

The squad moved out the mess hall, leaving the grisly scene behind.

* * *

Up in the central lab, Dr. Winston Patterson cringed as the station was again rocked by explosions.

"I'm trying to _work_, you stupid pillocks!" he thundered.

He snarled, and checked the main computer again.

"Fifteen minutes...just fifteen minutes," he whispered to himself.

* * *

Don't worry, there's more action in the next chapter.


End file.
